Suggested dental hygiene practices include brushing and flossing multiple times each day, and preferably after every meal. However, most people cannot typically engage in such recommended care because the necessary dental devices and supplies, such as a toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss, etc., are not ordinarily carried, and further may not be conveniently available or accessible throughout the day. As a result, proper dental care may be significantly delayed or even abandoned altogether.
In response to the inaccessibility or general inconvenience of carrying dental devices, a myriad of designs incorporating a toothbrush, toothpaste, and/or dental floss into a compact unit have been developed. However, such designs can be awkward in their use, often requiring the removal and separation of small parts in order to access the dental floss. Furthermore, such designs may not protect the dental floss or other dental tools from the fluids that a typical toothbrush is exposed to when brushing, resulting in the unintended contamination of parts of the combination unit.
In light of the above shortcomings, it would be desirable to provide a dental device that combines the features of a toothbrush and dental floss dispenser in one integral unit that is easy to use and operate and further prevents potentially contaminating fluids from reaching unintended portions of the device.